[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 80 (Thursday, May 15, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      HONORING DR. CARROLL L. ESTES PHD OF HEALDSBURG, CALIFORNIA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 15, 2008

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today along with my 
colleagues Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, and 
you as Speaker of the House of Representatives, to honor the 
contributions of Carroll L. Estes, PhD. Dr. Estes is one of our 
country's most highly acclaimed leaders in the field of aging, who has 
combined distinguished scholarship with a sustained commitment to 
public sociology.
  Dr. Estes was raised in Texas by her mother, Carroll Cox Estes, an 
artist and writer, and her father, the late U.S. District Judge Joe E. 
Estes. She received her AB in Sociology from Stanford University, her 
MA in Sociology from Southern Methodist University, and her PhD from 
the University of California, San Diego. Her first book, The Decision 
Makers: The Power Structure of Dallas, published in 1963, gained 
notoriety on both local and national levels at the time of President 
Kennedy's assassination.
  Over her 40 year career, Dr. Estes has been passionately devoted to 
improving the health and economic security of vulnerable and 
underserved populations, with special concern for women, older persons, 
and ethnic and racial minorities. Through research, teaching, and 
public service, she has steadfastly worked to advance the public good 
and the interests of America's most powerless and disenfranchised 
populations. She is an internationally recognized policy advisor in the 
field of social insurance, Social Security, Medicare, and long term 
care.
  Dr. Estes has authored and co-authored eight books and more than 150 
scientific articles and coedited 15 books. Her research, including her 
groundbreaking book, The Aging Enterprise (1979), has contributed to 
understanding of the impact of social policy on the elderly. Her latest 
book, Social Insurance, Social Justice and Social Change will be 
published in 2009.
  Dr. Estes's current scholarship is focused on the social movements 
surrounding the privatization of social insurance programs for the 
elderly. She is also working on the missing feminist revolution in old 
age policy and studies of the long term care ombudsman program and 
access to elder mental health services.
  In 1979, Dr. Estes cofounded the Aging Health Policy Center, and in 
1985 it was approved by the University of California Board of Regents 
as the Institute for Health & Aging (IHA). Dr. Estes was appointed its 
first director and served for nearly two decades. She was also 
chairperson of the Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences in the 
School of Nursing from 1981 through 1992.
  Dr. Estes's service extends far beyond academia. She was a consultant 
to U.S. Commissioners of Social Security and the U.S. Senate and House 
Committees on Aging and was a member of Federal commissions, committees 
of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and 
private foundation boards. She is past president of the Gerontological 
Society of America (GSA), the American Society on Aging (ASA), and the 
Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), and past 
national vice-president of the Older Women's League. Dr. Estes is a 
long-time member of many advocacy organizations induding: the Gray 
Panthers, Responsible Wealth, the Older Women's League (of which she 
was national vice president). She worked directly with both Tish 
Sommers and Maggie Kuhn, who continue to inspire her activism.
  In 2006 Dr. Estes received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the 
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, where she 
is currently vice chair. She is also a current member of the Sonoma 
County Council on Aging.
  Most important among Dr. Estes's many contributions is that of mother 
and grandmother to her daughter Duskie Estes, her son-in-law John 
Stewart, and her precious granddaughters Brydie and Mackenzie.
  Madam Speaker, it is appropriate that Dr. Carroll L. Estes, PhD, is 
being honored at a University of California, San Francisco, symposium 
celebrating her 40 years of policy research and leadership in health 
and aging. We are grateful for her many contributions as a 
distinguished scholar, inspiring teacher, influential policy advisor, 
institution builder and advocate for the most vulnerable in our Nation.

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